WRITTEN ON October 6th, 2009 BY chris AND STORED IN Leaflet Distribution

Tags: conservative party, politics

Aside from the less-than-welcoming video still of Eric Pickles on the home page, the Conservative Party seem to have made a pretty good fist of its new website.

Taking inspiration from Barack Obama’s highly successful campaigning site, www.myconservatives.com is attempting to galvanise support and attract donations by providing an easy way for people to get involved in Conservative-minded initiatives and campaigns - whether they want to be party members or not.

The site provides an interesting demonstration of how the internet is changing the way political parties campaign.

But what is perhaps most interesting about the site is the extent to which political parties, even in 2009, still rely heavily on more traditional means of getting their message out to the electorate.

Take a typical campaign page. If you want to make a donation, the amount is quantified not by Twitter man-hours or Facebook community-building, but by leaflet delivery, telephone calls and addressed surveys:

£8.50 pays for printing and delivery of leaflets to 4 streets

£22 pays for calls to over 250 undecided voters

£47 pays for 15,000 online adverts about the campaign

£175 pays for surveying 500 voters and the postage on responses

Some presence for online advertising then, but the value of donations is most clearly emphasised by equating amounts with what are clearly still seen as the most effective ways of campaigning.

The next few months will inevitably be a busy time for MPs and prospective MPs. Having worked with political candidates (and parties) of most persuasions in the past, we like to think we have a good understanding of the best and most cost-effective way to reach every single household in your constituency.

In practice, we use our own software Link Extra to give us an extremely accurate picture of a constituency’s distribution requirements. Usually, we’ll then employ all four distribution methods - Solus Distribution, Newslink, Royal Mail Door to Door and Direct Mail - to ensure the best possible coverage.

So if you’re an MP or candidate looking to run a leaflet distribution campaign in the lead-up to the election, get in touch with us here.